Since the spring of 2020, to preserve public transit services, the governments of Quebec and Canada have made up for shortfalls with emergency aid. Many people have reminded us that this is an essential service that must be maintained. As the March 21 budget approaches, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, is right: it is not normal for a wind of uncertainty to hang over the future of public transport during budget exercises.
Nevertheless, here we are again: the support of senior governments has already been exhausted in the greater Montreal area and in other cities in Quebec. It is essential that the 2023-2024 budget make sufficient financial assistance available to maintain the service levels of transit corporations across Québec.
Geneviève Guilbault also asserts that “optimization” is necessary so that the population receives the best services for each dollar invested. Although a responsible use of public funds is necessary, the savings that can be envisaged are simply not commensurate with the needs. It will take much more than marginal adjustments to make up for the projected deficit of transport companies, which amounts to 800 million in 2025. Good financial management must not translate into service cuts.
The costs of inaction are enormous: more congestion, more greenhouse gases and additional car-related household expenses.
Remember that the challenges related to funding have existed for several years and were the subject of a consultation in 2019, a year of record ridership for public transit. At that time, services were often saturated at peak times, hence the term “sardine class”. Is it normal that buses and metros have to overflow so that transport companies can make ends meet?
It should also be noted that adequately funding public transit services is a much more efficient way of moving people than building new highway infrastructure.
The ambition of sustainable mobility
In its Plan for a Green Economy (PEV) 2030, adopted in 2021, the Quebec government plans to launch several major structuring and electric public transport projects. This is a healthy ambition, which should be deployed in line with the government target of increasing services by 5% per year, set out in Quebec’s Sustainable Mobility Policy.
To achieve this, the PEV aims in particular to “balance investments between public transport and the road network”. However, according to the latest Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI), for the next decade, $13.3 billion is planned for public transit, compared to $30.6 billion for the road network. We remain far from the mark, unlike our Ontario neighbors, who plan to invest 70% in public transit, or 2.5 times more per capita, for the next decade.
A signal to send
Next Tuesday, the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, will unveil his 2023-2024 budget. We are not expecting magic solutions to the structural challenges we face. It will be the responsibility of Minister Guilbault, during her tour over the next few months, to negotiate an agreement offering greater predictability to transportation companies as well as new sources of revenue considering structural challenges, such as the erosion of revenues on fuels due to the electrification of transport.
That said, the Minister of Finance must send a strong budgetary signal in order to restore confidence.
The Government of Quebec has undertaken to act to avoid any further reduction in services. He must maintain this commitment. The opposite, as we know, will plunge us into a vicious circle where the reduction in services will perpetuate the loss of revenue due to the decline in traffic in recent years.
Let’s keep the destination in mind: in a context of ecological transition, we need (a lot) more public transport, not less. At a minimum, the service increase target of 5% per year must be maintained. Let’s get to it now.
*Also signed this text:
Christian Savard, Managing Director of Vivre en Ville
Martin Vaillancourt, Director General of the National Group of Regional Environmental Councils of Quebec (RNCREQ)
Charles Bonhomme, public affairs manager at the David Suzuki Foundation
Marie-Soleil Gagné, Executive Director of Accès transports viables
Samuel Pagé-Plouffe, coordinator at Alliance TRANSIT
Sarah V. Doyon, Executive Director of Trajectory Quebec
Colleen Thorpe, Executive Director of Equiterre
Emmanuel Rondia, Director General of the Regional Council for the Environment of Montreal